stokebynightfandomcom-20200216-history
January 2007
Legal, Media, Police, Politics, Street, Underworld In a move that may validate John Weide’s recent actions, The Constabulary has made a series of arrests in connection with the illegal boxing ring operating in the city. The most high profile of these arrests were the four who were at the centre of the incident on the A500 that left four people dead and three people on the run. One of the escapees has since been found – in pieces – but the other two remain at large. A dozen further arrests have been made since this time, although all have subsequently been released on bail as The Constabulary tries to shake off a bad month with regards deaths in custody. Finance, Legal, Police, Underworld Legal companies across the city having been making a mint as The Constabulary continued to make arrests in connection with The Organisation over the Christmas period. In total, more than two dozen people have been arrested, although after the deaths of two suspects in custody all have been released on bail or into a proper detention facility. John Weide remains at the centre of all of the investigations – apparently it is information provided by his undercover officers that has led to the arrests. Meanwhile many of the city’s lawyers must decide whether they are willing to take on cases involving potential members of The Organisation, after all, if they are willing to silence their own members, what’s to stop them silencing their lawyers as well. Legal, Media, Street All those lawyers crying over whether they dare risk working with potential members of The Organisation – you don’t see me fretting over it. I say just take the money and do your job, hell if you find they’re guilty half way through just walk away, remember, the law allows you to! Just don’t act all lily livered thinking they’re going to whack you next, they’ve got bigger fish to fry than you. ~ Anonymous Legal “Advisor”. Police, Street, Underworld William Benrazi, remember him? Thought not, but I reckon he’s probably the missing link behind all of these arrests this month. He was the two-bit scum bag who got killed along with his lawyer brother for starting to squeal on The Organisation. Well, whoever pulled the trigger should have checked his pockets better – turns out the brother had palmed a notebook off of William shortly before he got bumped, and Weide’s been going through it page by page since. He’s not the sharp tack everyone thinks he is, he’s just got lucky if you ask me. ~ Officer John Debown. Media, Police, Politics, Underworld So, the existence of The Organisation has been confirmed and arrests are now being made? Well, I suppose it goes some way to justifying John Weide and his bully boy tactics – it’s not just the last three corpses that have died in his custody. The big question is; can he keep the arrest rate up now that he’s started? The smart money is guessing no – if The Organisation has been operating for as long as people suspect it has then it’s not going to be undone by something like this, it will simply go to ground and stay there, re-emerging a couple of years down the line when someone else uncovers it under a different name, after all, isn’t that what used to happen with Sandernacht? Health, Media, Police, Street In all of the excitement surrounding the arrests linked to The Organisation, one related fact has gone relatively unpublished – The Constabulary has now been able to identify a link between the shadowy group and The Surgeons. Following arrests at a Meth lab on the outskirts of the city, drugs recovered at the scene were identified as being from the same batch as those recovered from the body of a member of The Surgeons shot dead by officers from The Constabulary. Following a lengthy questioning, the arrested chemist confirmed that he was supplying The Surgeons with Angel Dust in exchange for protection from another group courtesy of a contact he’d made in The Organisation. The big problem of course is that every two-bit criminal is now talking up their involvement with the group – so much so that The Constabulary doesn’t know who to believe when such claims are made. Occult, Street, Underworld Okay, so The Surgeons are working for The Organisation - that explains where they’re getting their funding from. What it doesn’t explain however is why they’re acting in such a random manner, I mean, from everything we’ve heard about them The Organisation seems to have a pretty clear idea of what is going on and a strict line in discipline, and then they’ve got these lunatics working for them – it just doesn’t make sense! Or maybe that’s the point, perhaps it’s all about misdirection, everything else in life is, so why shouldn’t this be? ~ Unidentified Loon, Hanley Bus Station. Occult, Police, University I see two dark twins, sat alone against the world. I see their mission, their goal and I am feared. They are the reason we exist. They are the reason we fight. They are the reason we must succeed. ~ Intercepted Radio Transmission, intermittent broadcast. Bureaucracy, Church, Legal, Media, Police, Politics Of all the arrests made by The Constabulary over the last month by far the most public are those that resulted in the deaths of four people – including a local journalist and entrepreneur. Details remain sketchy as the authorities continue to investigate the matter, but shortly before eight o’clock on Sunday 3rd December, four men were arrested by The Constabulary following allegations of involvement in an illegal boxing ring. During their transportation to a secure facility the convoy they were in came under attack from masked men. One of the men arrested was killed in the attack and the other three escaped. The attack was not part of a rescue attempt however and officers were forced to resort to lethal force to deal with the situation. Two others arrested subsequently died in police custody – although foul play was ruled out on the part of The Constabulary in both cases. Funerals have been held for three of the deceased – the fourth remains unidentified. Media, Politics You ask me, The Constabulary did well not to kill all four of those idiots that night – the speed they drove at them they acted with appropriate force. And the guy they shot at the scene – crazy, must have been drugged up to high heaven or something – had this real animal look to him. I was just trying to protect my family but those police officers looked real freaked after they’d finished putting holes in him, as if they couldn’t believe he was dead or something. Hear they’re in counselling now – can’t say that I’m surprised. ~ Anonymous Eye Witness. Health, Legal, Police, Underworld So one guy dies on site – he’s found to be full of PCP. Another dies a couple of days later, she’s found to be a complete smack head and the last dies of a coronary, and people fear The Organisation when they’re hiring numb nuts like these? Sounds like they’re all likely to turn up dead by their own hands soon enough anyway, so let’s just leave them to it! The only one who doesn’t fit the same profile as the rest is that Santiago guy, maybe he really was an innocent doctor in the wrong place at the wrong time like he managed to persuade The Constabulary; or maybe he’s as corrupt as all the rest of them and was able to lie better. ~ Anonymous Constabulary Officer. Bureaucracy, Legal, Police, Politics Two Constabulary officers have been cleared of all charges in relation to the death of a suspected member of The Organisation last month. The two officers, who remain unnamed for their own safety, fired a total of seven breaching rounds into the suspect after he broke free of his handcuffs after approaching the officers at speed in a modified sports car. Coroners found that the two officers had discharged their weapons legally with thought only for the safety of themselves and the public – an almost textbook case of appropriate response. Autopsies had also revealed that the man was under the influence of Phencyclidine at the time, which had led to his agitated state. The two officers remain on leave due to the stress suffered as a result of the situation. Bureaucracy, Health, Police, Politics Yeah, I know the two guys who shot that fella’ on the A500, regular down to earth guys, not at all itchy fingers. If they shot that guy then they had a bloody good reason for doing so – they weren’t the type to just fly off the handle I can tell you. Still, it’s shaken them up something fierce, one of them is talking about not returning to the force and taking early retirement, he says that what he saw he never wants to repeat. Church, Health, Media, Street It’s been a bad month for The Constabulary, first there was the incident with the man who was shot on the A500 and then two further suspects died in custody – one of drug related complications and the other of a coronary. Swift investigations into possible malpractice by The Constabulary followed and in both cases they were exonerated. Both victims have since been released to their families and have been cremated. Finance, Health, Media, Politics, Underworld Yes, I saw both of the victims that died in custody and I can categorically say that The Constabulary had appeared to do everything they could to help them, it’s just tragic really. The worrying thing is that both were respectable members of the community, a financier and journalist respectively, and both had been gotten to by The Organisation – it just goes to show how far they have managed to penetrate into decent society. It must have been difficult for whoever had to write their obituaries to find something positive to say about them, but all credit to them they did. Now if The Constabulary can put this entire incident behind them and concentrate on bringing whoever is behind The Organisation to justice then their deaths won’t be for nothing. Church, Media, Police In two low key ceremonies, the two members of The Organisation that died in the custody of The Constabulary were cremated last week. Despite the violent natures of their deaths (both had injured themselves extensively at the point of death), the families insisted that they have open coffins to honour them. Rumours that The Constabulary had officers at both funerals in an attempt to make further arrests have proven unfounded; John Winters personally commented that although both were suspected of involvement with a criminal group that it was their responsibility to ensure that the funerals remained a private family matter. Media, Politics Local papers ran editions with black banners in honour of a fallen comrade last week as one of their colleagues was cremated following a private family funeral. A spokesman for one paper commented that they had no idea that one of their colleagues was involved in a crime syndicate, but that even if this was true it did not diminish the value of her work. Photographs of all three of the deceased have appeared in local and national press as The Constabulary attempted to determine their identities. Police Away from all of the investigations into their behaviour, The Constabulary continue to hunt down two of the original arrestees in connection with a string of alleged offences. A third escapee was found shortly after their escape – or at least parts of him were, his body appeared to have been pulled apart, although the exact method how remains unknown. The Constabulary strongly suspects that he was “silenced” by others working for The Organisation, maybe others from the second team that was sent to silence them in the first place. The two remaining escapees are now believed to be dead also – officers leading the investigation believe that it is highly unlikely that they have managed to escape the attention of The Organisation for this long. Street, Underworld One minute we know nothing about them, the next they’re being blamed for everything! The Organisation have certainly made a name for themselves over the last few weeks, cutting a swathe of bloody fear amongst those in the underworld that can identify them. Can I? Not bloody likely! I knew they were trouble from day one so I kept my head down and caused them no bother – that’s the way to stay safe these days. ~ Anonymous Small Time Crook. Health, High Society, Media, Police The local health authority has asked the public to remain on the lookout for the artist known as Burgundy after she failed to turn up for psychiatric evaluation following her release by The Constabulary. The controversial artist was arrested for indecent exposure last month but was released without charge provided that she continued to see doctors for counselling after friends reported that she was suffering from mental health problems. Although she has no history of violence the authorities are asking the public to be extra careful and to not to try to apprehend her on their own. High Society, Street And so the career of another promising artist is ruined by drugs – what, she isn’t on drugs? Then how do you explain her behaviour, her art? To be honest following all the bad publicity she’d been getting I was starting to think it was all an act to sell more work, but now the authorities are saying that she has some serious mental issues. I only hope that she can be found before she does anything that it will be difficult to step back from – anything serious. Church, Occult, Street Okay, I get that she’s gone off the rails a bit and that the authorities are worried about what she may do next. What I cannot get my head around is why the church has decided that they need to help her – it just doesn’t make sense to me. Or are they finally acknowledging that they have a role to play in how the city is run and are making a “public contribution” to that notion? Church, Media, Politics With the onset of the cold weather and the dangers of crime fresh in everybody’s mind, local churches, mosques and synagogues have opened their doors to the needy in a gesture of solidarity with the city’s poor and needy. The move has drawn equal praise and concern; praise that the churches have finally realised their position within society and concern that things have gotten so bad that local government is no longer able to deal with the situation. Occult They may be playing all “nicely-nicely”, but behind their fake smiles and concern the city’s priests have a far darker agenda – one that sees them in league with the mysterious Men In Black. Have you ever noticed that you never see or hear of a priest or any other type of religious leader getting involved in anything that draws their attention, the Men In Black that is? Don’t you think that’s strange considering how they’re always commenting on current affairs but never have anything to do with them? ~ Unidentified Loon, Hanley Bus Station. Media, Police, Politics Away from the furore surrounding the death of two people in their custody, allegations of corruption continue to swim around The Constabulary – and in particular John Weide. Despite assurances from both Weide and Winters’ that the photographs of Weide with known members of the mafia were taken as part of an undercover operation, media interest in uncovering Weide’s background remains high. Weide continues on regardless of this, making numerous arrests this month in connection with his ongoing attempt to rid the city of crime. Street, Underworld Yeah, Weide’s about as crooked as they come – I’ve never trusted him even when I’ve been feeding him the information he’s wanted, and that’s the real reason I’ve never trusted him. He’s got too many contacts in the underworld not to be pulling a grift’ somewhere along the line, but the thing is he’s too smart for me to figure out what it is. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t turn up dead in an alley one of these days. ~ Anonymous Consortium Member. Police, Politics Weide and Winters may be playing it nice for the cameras, but behind the scenes the two of them are in an almost constant state of argument over how far is too far, with Winters’ worried that Weide is becoming increasingly violent in his quest to bring an end to organised crime. If the rumours are to be believed then Winters’ is drawing up a dossier of evidence against Weide, although if older rumours are to be believed he has always been doing this. Occult, Police, University Winters may have gone on public record as saying that Weide has no links to organised crime, but behind the scenes he’s got his boffins over at the university working on finding as much evidence as possible on his wayward police star. Interest in Winters’ special unit has been intense – indeed, the main question that many are asking is does it actually exist? Winters’ for one is remaining tight lipped on the issue which in turn is creating even more speculation. University Does Winter’s have people working for him on the college campus? Well let me put it this way, there are certain buildings that we have been warned to give a wide berth unless we want to find ourselves being asked some very serious questions. Winters is trying to make sense of the city and he’s pulled out all of the stops to do so, bringing in psychologists, mathematicians and all sorts of academics to answer the big questions. We’ve all seen them about on campus but none of us can ever remember being taught by any of them. Anyway, I’ve got to go I’m late for a class. ~ Jack Anders, Professional Student. Bureaucracy, Finance, Legal, Police, Politics A local government investigation has reported that The Constabulary remains too influenced by outside sources and not focussed on its primary mission of protecting the public. The report, which was drawn up in response to requests for further funding, has sent shockwaves through the establishment and left many questioning how much longer Winters can remain head of The Constabulary. Winters however remains unfazed by the report stating that it is something that he has been aware of for a long time and that he is making plans to deal with. Health, Media, Occult James Helmudson as once again attempted suicide – the second time in less than a year. Helmudson, who’s health has deteriorated over the last few months was allegedly heard to be crying to himself prior to the attempt. Sound recording experts were brought in to try to determine what Helmudson was saying prior to the attempt were unable to determine anything, but were able to confirm that he appeared to be talking to himself. Helmudson has now been placed under observation for fear of further attempts. Occult, Politics So they’ve finally got their way – Helmudson’s been locked up for so long that he has begun to lose his mental faculties, a real shame if you ask me. I saw him last week and he was just a shadow of the man he used to be, the change has been that quick in happening that it caught us all by surprise. And the worst thing is that we never really got to find out what the authorities had charged him with; in the end he’s just been institutionalised for so long that it’s permanently broken him, a sad fate for anyone. ~ Anonymous former member of the UTE. Health, Media, Politics, Street Human rights groups have condemned The Constabulary for the manner in which they have treated James Helmudson. Helmudson, who has been held without charge for over six months and has now begun to show signs of intense mental stress which is believed to have contributed to a recent suicide attempt. Helmudson has appeared to have developed a martyr complex and is repeatedly heard to complain that he is not “the chosen one”. Of course many have drawn their own conclusions from this, but doctors for Helmudson state that it is just another sign of how broken a man he now is. Occult, Street As attacks on the city’s occult practitioners and psychics continue many fear that a second purge is on the horizon like four years ago and that unlike the last one, this one won’t end until one side is the victor. The authorities remain divided on the matter as any action could be seen as giving credibility to the concerns. Meanwhile, unofficial safe houses have been established across the city, although many are full to capacity already. Bureaucracy, Media, Occult, University Local radio enthusiasts have recently found the airwaves polluted by a low grade signal being broadcast from inside Cheshire, although the exact source has to be located. Experts from the government’s Communications Office were brought in by The Constabulary and its Cheshire counterpart to determine the source of the signal, but have so far turned up nothing. One interesting fact that has emerged is that the signal – a constant repetition of binary – may in fact be an echo from earlier times that has somehow been caught in the system; old code as it were. Investigations are set to continue. Occult I know what it is that lies across the border, I know what its plan is and what it will do should it succeed. However, I do not fear it; I also know what else is coming. Why do I not tell everyone what I know? It has already been fated; nothing can stop it from beginning, only from ending. ~ Caoilfhionn Ashen. High Society, Occult White a., & v.t. 1. Resembling a surface reflecting sunlight without absorbing any of the visible rays, of the colour of milk or fresh snow or common salt or the common swan’s plumage; approaching such colour, pale esp. in face that is an albino; less dark than other things of the same kind; having lost its colour esp. in old age. 2. Characterized by presence of some white; having white flowers, light coloured bark etc. 3. Transparent, colourless; innocent, unstained, of harmless kind. ~ The Oxford English Dictionary (text abridged). Health, Occult Look to the west, for from there it will come. ~ James Helmudson. High Society, Occult Black a. 1. Opposite of white; colourless from the absence or complete absorption of all light; so near this as to have no distinguishable colour; very dark-coloured. 2. Dark skinned; dark-clothed; dusky, gloomy; dirty. 3. Sinister, wicked, hateful; dismal; angry, sulky, threatening, implying disgrace or condemnation; presenting tragedy or bitter reality in comic terms. ~ The Oxford English Dictionary (text abridged). Health, Occult Do not look east, for that is not its source. ~ James Helmudson. Occult, Street The day of judgement is upon us; the dark man stirs from his slumber and begins to walk the lands. Many assume the mantle of leadership but few will be able to grasp it. Faces will come and go; some new, some old and things will take shape. But one thing is clear – one will take the final step, their final step and things will change because of it. ~ Unidentified Loon, Hanley Bus Station. Street, University One pill makes you larger / And one pill makes you small / And the ones that mother gives you / Don't do anything at all / Go ask Alice / When she's ten feet tall. And if you go chasing rabbits / And you know you're going to fall / Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar / Has given you the call / Call Alice / When she was just small. When men on the chessboard / Get up and tell you where to go / And you've just had some kind of mushroom / And your mind is moving low / Go ask Alice / I think she'll know. When logic and proportion / Have fallen sloppy dead / And the White Knight is talking backwards / And the Red Queen's "off with her head!" / Remember what the dormouse said: / "Feed your head / Feed your head / Feed your head". ~ JeffersonAirplane, “White Rabbit”. Bureaucracy, Industry, Media, Politics, Transport The city faces a shortage of skilled labour as many Eastern European workers return home amid fear for their families. No explanation for the phenomena can be found as many come from the most stable parts of the region. The exodus has left many homes facing weeks without water or other utilities as the remaining tradesmen capable of doing the work struggle to keep up with the demand. Bureaucracy, Finance, Industry, Politics So what is happening in Eastern Europe, I’ve not seen any news saying that fresh conflict has broken out there? My best bet is that the bubble has burst and many are going home amid fear of an economic downturn. No matter what the reason it will have a serious short term effect on the economy as supply is outstripped by demand for skilled labour, making it a sellers, not a buyers, market.